Developing Tawi front

River Tawi makes a semi circular round of the southern tail-end of the Trikuta Hills. Mythology has given it the name of Suryaputri meaning the daughter of the Sun. It is the life line of the city of Jammu besides the source of irrigation and habitation for the people. Tawi is a somewhat a seasonal river which gets into spate with the onset of rainy season. In winter, much reduced water flows down the river. Thus the river presents contrasting views during the rainy season and during the dry winter season.
Modern concept of turning the banks of rivers into picnic spots for the citizens, where they can enjoy their spare time or holiday has been actually borrowed from Europe. But European rivers are not seasonal as most of the rivers in the subcontinent are. Therefore, the concept of development of banks of a river will naturally differ from what is being planned in our country. For long, there has been the thinking that the banks of river Tawi should be developed and made a fine picnic spot for the citizens. Plans and projects require funding and technical expertise. These are the pre-requisites. The talk of developing Tawi banks has been there for a long time. It did not mature so for. But, now the Deputy Chief Minister, who is also the  Chairman of the JDA Board of Directors, has taken a bold initiative which will become a landmark in changing the face of the Tawi Bank on both sides. This is a more than ten kilometers long stretch and covers the densely populated part of the old city. However, in the first phase only the stretch between Bhagwati Nagar and Gujjar Nagar will be taken up.
There appears a good element of purposefulness in the scheme because an official team has visited the Sabarmati bank in Gujarat to obtain information about all aspects of the project that is likely to be undertaken in Jammu for Tawi embankment. Two senior officers were deputed for this assignment and they have submitted their report to the Government. As a result, the JDA has entered into negotiations with the Project Consultant, viz. Sabarmati River Front Development Corporation Limited (SRFDCL), which has submitted draft of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the J&K Housing and Urban Development Department.
It means that the project is being pursued seriously. It is certified by the fact that the Union Ministry of Water Resources Development has agreed to fund the project when the draft plan is finally accepted for implementation. In other words, there will be no financial constraints for this project once it is cleared by the Government.
What are the precise benefits of the project? This question needs to be answered. In the first place, a river bank is generally turned into a congested and shabby area and a source of piling up garbage in the hope that someday waters of the river will rise and wash away the garbage and the litter. This is a very unscientific idea and has to be topped forthwith. Secondly, Jammu is perched on a hillock. We do not have enough parks and walkways in Jammu which are a necessity in modern times. The project will provide walkways and parks which if maintained seriously can become source of much attraction to the citizens. Thirdly, it is possible to create cozy and clean and beautiful restaurants, children’s parks, children’s play grounds, recreational grounds and indoor game facilities to the visitors. In hot summer season, people can come out to take a stroll along the river walkways which will have rows of shady trees on both the banks. Thus we find the developed bank will be a big asset for the city of Jammu. The JDA, which is now preparing enter into an agreement with the SRFDCL, is hopeful that the project could also become a source of income or at least a self generating source that would maintain the walkways and the cleanliness and beauty of the banks.
Obviously when the Draft Plan will be finally accepted, the policy planners will see to it that these developed banks are not vulnerable to the flood waters of the river as we know in monsoon days, Tawi is generally in spate. Since geologists and expert engineers have been taken into the loop, we are confident that all aspects of the project will have been taken into consideration and free from the threat of overflowing waters that sometimes breaks the banks and overflows. Yet one more thing towards which the attention of the general public gets focused when discussing the project is the treatment of the rainy nullahs dozens of which fall into the Tawi at the time of rainy season. There has been much talk about joining these nullahs together and thus reclaim the land for residential purposes or for saving the houses made close to the nullah banks and vulnerable to flood water threat. It is important that these rainy season nullahs are treated on scientific basis. Finally, now that the Government and the JDA have raised the hopes of the citizenry in Jammu that the Tawi banks would be beautified, they also expect that work on the project is begun right now and the target is attained within the time frame. Normally projects are declared and inaugurated with fanfare but soon these fizzle out and then are procrastinated from year to year. That should not happen.

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